Just as it is impossible to answer the question of what is “the right car” these days, there is no universal answer to what is “the right search software” for patent searches. But what does exist are search tools that are suitable for your purposes and goals and that are right for you.
We will introduce you to the most important patent search tools and explain how they work and what the differences are.
Contents
In the field of patents and intellectual property (IP), there are many search tools, which work very differently and whose use must first be learned. Especially in the last 10 years, the number of search tools has increased significantly; some of them are free of charge, others have to be paid for. If you ask an experienced patent searcher today which search software he can recommend to you, he will most likely recommend the system he is currently using. Why? Simply because he knows its strengths and weaknesses and has learned to use it over the years.
For someone who hardly has any experience with the use of patent software or is completely new to the topic of patent search, it is an almost impossible undertaking to find “the right” search software right off the bat. Therefore, we will shed light on the most important types of search tools, their advantages and peculiarities. We only refer to the functions of the tools in terms of patent search.
Other features with which patents can be distributed in the company for evaluation (patent monitoring) and with which an extensive workflow can be illustrated and an “in-house archive” can be set up in the company are not included in our comparison.
What is important in patent search?
Regardless of the basic search functions (search, filter, etc.), there are many requirements for a search program that not only facilitate daily patent work, but also form the basis for a successful search.
Search functions for a successful and efficient patent search:
- family-based search
- extensive, international patent database
- high-quality, searchable machine translations – especially for Asian patents (e.g. China, Japan, South Korea)
- search histories that save each individual search with its results
- comfortable and user-friendly search interface
- extensive analysis and filtering options for results
- automatic highlighting of search terms by using sophisticated highlighting schemes
- differentiation between dependent and independent claims
- ranking of results and result lists
- easy distribution of search results
Not all of the search tools we present below have several or all of these important search functions.Therefore, we will show tool by tool which functions are available and for which type of research the respective tool is suitable.
What patent search tools are available?
Let’s start our comparison of the search tools. As mentioned above, we will only look at the functions for patent searches – not for patent monitoring, building your own patent archive or an extensive workflow.
We’ll take a closer look at these search options:
- Search with the help of patent office programs (free of charge)
- Search with the help of commercial providers (free of charge)
- Search with patent crawler software (with costs)
- Search with patent software with own patent database (with costs)
Search with the help of the programs of the patent offices
Each patent office has the obligation to publish its own patent data. Whereas in the past the printed IP rights were issued in paper form, the Internet has simplified the publication obligation and the patent offices make the patent data available on their websites. To ensure that older patents can also be accessed, each patent office provides a more or less convenient search program for its patent database.
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The patent offices’ search programs are usually easy to use and contain few functions. Frequently, patent data from other offices is also included in the patent search. Whether and to what extent this happens must be researched on the help pages of the respective patent office.
The search program DEPATISnet of the German Patent and Trademark Office, for example, accesses the bibliographic data with summaries of about 100 countries. However, the full text (claims and descriptions) is only available for German and – partially – for European patents. If you search for certain terms, American patents are also found, but only on the basis of the title and the summary of the patent specifications.
The essential part, i.e. the claims and descriptions, are not searched. So if you would like to additionally search for American patents, then the search must be performed again at the US Patent Office.
This means for you: For the most comprehensive search possible, you will need to research the various, international patent offices in the language of the country. This is very time-consuming. Only the WIPO IP Portal with Patentscope offers a search interface on which several countries can be searched in full text. However, with the disadvantage that not all patents are available on the publication date.
Patent searches often involve sensitive data. Access to the pages of patent offices is almost exclusively encrypted. The search is secure if the patent office itself is trustworthy.
A family-based search is not possible or necessary at all offices, since often only the data of the respective patent office is searched. An own highlighting with consideration of synonyms, a meaningful ranking and also analysis options are only available at the fewest patent offices. Search histories or saved result lists are not possible, as this would require a user account.
Among others, a search is possible at these international patent offices:
- WIPO Patentscope, international
- USPTO, USA
- Espacenet, European Patent Office
- DPMA, Germany
- Canadian Patents Database, Canada
- Patent Search and Analysis, China
- J-PlatPat, Japan
- Kipris, Korea (Attention: unencrypted page!)
Conclusion
The patent data of the various patent offices are very up-to-date and are usually available on the day of publication. Data that you enter during the search is transferred securely in most programs. The handling is simple, a training is not necessary.
However, a search at the patent offices is only complete for the respective patent office. Claims and description texts from other countries are missing. Functions that are necessary for an efficient search are not or hardly available. An extensive freedom-to-operate-search (FTO search) is virtually impossible with the programs of the patent offices, or only possible with a great deal of effort.
Search with the help of commercial providers
Some commercial providers offer free search programs. The best-known search platform is Google Patents. Its major advantage over the patent offices is the significantly larger full-text database of patents (claims and description text; some with machine translations). Thus, Chinese patents, among others, are also searched in full text during the search.
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Exactly which data is searched must be found out from the respective provider. The data is always only available with a delay for commercial providers. This is because commercial providers only receive the data on the day of publication and are able to import it into their database. Depending on how the data is prepared, this can take several days.
When searching with providers such as Google Patents, keep in mind that critical information is sent to a commercial provider on their terms. Creating a user account with a commercial provider is only recommended if the provider also commits to keeping your data confidential. This is rarely the case with free user accounts.
Without your own user account, searching with the help of commercial providers is just as limited as searching with the patent offices’ programs: your own highlighting schemes or search histories are not available.
Conclusion
For reasons of data protection and data security, you should only conduct research with commercial providers for non-critical project work. You should refrain from doing an FTO search when using commercial providers.
The depth of the search can, depending on the provider, be significantly better than with the patent offices. The efficiency of the search is also better with some providers than with the patent offices. However, this is mainly due to the ranking functions and less to the search functions offered. These are also poor in this type of patent search.
Search with patent crawler software
Patent crawlers refer to programs that use websites (in this case, the search pages of patent offices) for collected data retrieval. In this process, the search queries are automatically adapted, sent to the patent offices’ platforms and the results are obtained. Which patent offices are accessed must be taken from the documentation of the respective providers.
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The advantage of patent crawlers is obvious: An up-to-date patent database is searched, which is significantly more extensive than that of a single patent office. The results are clearly summarized so that patents do not have to be read several times. The use of patent crawler software is usually less expensive than patent software with its own patent database.
Sensitive data is transmitted to the offices in encrypted form.
Patent crawlers offer you advantages over searching the free patent offices. The searchable database is much more extensive and there are some functions available that simplify the search.
The disadvantages are the limited search options, the lack of relevance ranking and the poor performance. An FTO search with a patent crawler is time-consuming and the search options are significantly limited. For this reason, the FTO search with a patent crawler is not recommended. An overview search can be performed.
Conclusion
Patent crawlers offer you advantages over searching the patent offices. The searchable database is much more extensive and there are some functions available that simplify the search.
The disadvantages are the limited possibility to search, the lack of relevance ranking and the poor performance. An FTO search with a patent crawler is time-consuming and the search options are significantly limited. For this reason, the FTO search with a patent crawler is not recommended. An overview search can be performed.
Search with patent software with own patent database
For a professional, secure and efficient search (incl. FTO searches), patent software with its own patent database such as IP7 Compass is the first choice. The providers of such patent software differ in their full-text database (claims, descriptions, machine translations) as well as in their search functions.
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Patent software with its own patent database allows complex search strategies to be implemented and numerous of the above-mentioned functions to be used for an efficient patent search. The result lists are displayed quickly.
While free search programs have a very simple (and thus limited) user interface, fee-based search tools focus on professional search performed by experts. Providers such as IP7 offer training to get started with the software.
Access through a European patent software provider is safe because there is a contract between the customer and the software provider and usually any disclosure of data is prevented in the T&Cs. Look for such a disclaimer when you sign a contract.
Access the patent software with patent database is personalized. Depending on user rights, extensive search functions – such as highlighting, search history, relevance ranking, analysis, filter options and much more – are available. The results can be commented and evaluated, and lists of results can be stored in a hierarchical folder in a software like IP7 Compass.
Patent software such as IP7 Compass also offers extensions for intelligent patent monitoring or workflow functions, such as the option to export data (e.g. to Excel or Word) in order to share relevant results, including evaluations and comments, with other departments.
Conclusion
A patent software with its own patent database is the best tool for a professional patent search in terms of security, completeness and efficiency.
The effort for training as well as fees (mostly license models and annual costs) is amortized very quickly by the more efficient search. Data protection is regulated in the GTCs between the software provider and the software user.
Usually, professional software providers offer trial access and therefore provide a good opportunity to try out and compare the software’s features.
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